The benefits of normality
by Just Silence
Summary: After the graveyard, the Dursleys leave Harry with a muggle spanish family for the summer. There, he meets a muggle girl who thinks (british) wizards have no common sense, and turns his world upside down while helping him deal with his life. After this, Hogwarts will have to prepare for the new and improved Harry Potter. How will his new maturity and take on life affect the war?
1. Chapter 1

**After the graveyard, the Dursleys leave Harry with a muggle spanish family for the summer. There, he meets a muggle girl who thinks (british) wizards have no common sense, and turns his world upside down while helping him deal with his life. After this, Hogwarts will have to prepare for the new and improved Harry Potter. How will his new maturity and take on life affect the war? Manipulative/Good Dumbledore! Inconsiderate/Good Ron and Hermione! Final pairings are undecided! R&R**

**WARNING: This is not a "Harry becomes a genius, allies with the goblins and discovers a giant inheritance or mysterious powers" story, as much as I like those. It is only a story where Harry learns how to think more rationally and for himself before acting, opening his mind to other possibilities and standing up for himself instead of following Dumbledore blindly, and finding peace with himself, instead of feeling everything is his responsability and fault.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter (sadly), or any places, companies or characters you recognize from anywhere else. I'm not making profit with this story.**

Chapter 1: An unexpected trip

Harry turned towards the Dursleys resignedly, with a last look at his friends. Hermione was talking animatedly with her mother while they left the platform, and Ron was arguing with the twins. He followed his relatives mutely, and hoisted his trunk up to put it in the car. None of them asked how he was, or anything else for that matter, not that he expected them to, or paid them any attention. Instead, he tuned out his Aunt and Uncle's conversation and looked out the window. He dreaded the nightmares that were sure to come about the graveyard, with Cedric dying all over again every day. If only he hadn't been so bloody chivalrous and just taken the cup himself! Why did he keep making mistakes like that? Hadn't he learnt anything from the second task? And now because of his stupidity, another student had died. He didn't even want to imagine how it would be now with Voldemort back. He definitely had an obsession with Harry since he had defeated him as a toddler, and would stop at nothing to kill him. What worried Harry most about that was that it would put everyone who was close to him in danger. Who knows what families would be the first attacks now that he had the support of the death eaters and a body…he would have to keep an eye out for the news, muggle and magical.

While Harry was immersed in his thoughts, he didn't notice right away that the streets were unfamiliar, but after a while, it became evident. He paused, nonplussed. The Dursleys had never taken a detour before when they went to pick him up. They preferred to forget he ever existed and frankly, he preferred it that way. Since asking his relatives questions had never got him anywhere, he decided to enjoy the new scenery, wherever in London it was. Anyway, knowing the Dursleys, it was probably a completely boring reason. How wrong he was.

When they finally parked in a giant parking lot in front of a big building, Harry was just as confused and disinterested as before, but his uncle telling him to get out of the car got his attention. Why on earth would they want him to come with them? His relatives took each one a big suitcase out of the car, and passed him an old, battered one.

'Put your stuff in there, we're leaving your trunk here. And get rid of that owl' Uncle Vernon said roughly.

'Why?' asked Harry, annoyed. It was way past the time that he would do whatever the Dursleys told him without question. He was _not_ getting rid of his trunk, and definitely not Hedwig.

'We're going on a vacation and we don't want to find the house on fire when we come back, so you're coming' Aunt Petunia replied looking none too happy about this fact 'your trunk and owl are too freaky not to attract attention, so do as your uncle says' she finished shortly.

Harry could not believe his ears and stood there in shock. Had his aunt said he was being included in a vacation? That did not make sense. Were these death eaters impersonating them? If so, they were doing a poor job of it. He was about to take out his wand when he realized that the death eaters wouldn't know how to drive respecting the traffic rules, and they didn't know what his relatives looked like anyway. He reluctantly started doing as he was told, still suspicious. It couldn't be that they were going to leave him stranded somewhere, since he would have gladly left on his own account had they asked him to. Then again, there was a small chance that they were telling the truth, and no one was available to watch over him like when they had taken him to the zoo. Then again, a vacation? That seemed like too much.

'Hurry up boy!' said his uncle furiously 'we're not missing the plane because of you!' So there was a plane, which meant the big building must have been the airport. Against his better judgment, he felt slightly excited. He'd never been in a plane before. Then again, a vacation with the Dursleys would probably be just as bad as Surrey with them, so he shouldn't get his hopes up.

He finished packing, closed the suitcase and snapped at his uncle that he was ready. He asked his aunt for a pen and paper, which she provided with a glare, and penned a quick note to Hermione. _The Dursleys are taking me on a vacation, believe it or not. If you send me a letter back Hedwig will know where to find me. I Hope your summer goes well! Please keep me posted if you hear any news. Harry. _He tied it quickly to Hedwig's leg and told her to give it to Hermione, ignoring his relatives' furtive looks to see if anyone was watching.

They all walked towards the airport in a sour mood, Harry still thinking he should run away, and entered the building. His first thought was that it was enormous. Second, that there were so many people. He didn't know how Uncle Vernon made his way easily through the crowd, but he figured, bitterly, that they had been here many times, without him. His aunt ushered him into a queue that read "Iberia" on a screen and they waited until they made it to the end, where a flight attendant smiled at them from her desk.

"Passports please" she requested, and Aunt Petunia handed them to her. Harry vaguely remembered when she had taken him to get one when his mysterious letters had started to arrive. At the moment he hadn't paid much attention to it, mainly because the affair had been extremely boring, but now he realized they must have been prepared to send him (or all of them) abroad just to avoid them. This thought startled him slightly.

The flight attendant dispatched their suitcases and handed Aunt Petunia the tickets, apologizing because his seat was separate from the Dursleys. They all said it was all right quickly, before she tried to do something about it, and Uncle Vernon promptly guided them through the airport to another queue that read customs. They filled out forms and the man in the cabin stamped their passports before arriving in front of a sensor, where they had to take out their shoes and hand luggage. When they had everything back on, they walked for what seemed like a long time and finally arrived at gate 41. Harry had no idea it took so much hassle to travel by plane, but was slightly entertained by the whole experience. Once they sat at the gate, Uncle Vernon turned to him.

'Ok boy, listen to me' he said in a threatening voice 'we, as in Dudley, Petunia and I, are taking a two month vacation in the Canary Islands. I won it in the company after very hard work and you are _not_ going to ruin it. I arranged for you to stay with some distant relatives of mine in Madrid, as we couldn't find anyone to take you in the UK. I told them you prefer staying with locals because you want to learn Spanish, so you better act the part. You will behave with them and act normal. Don't do any freaky stuff or you will regret it' he finished. Harry was stunned, mostly because Uncle Vernon had invented something positive about him, instead of the usual St.-Brutus crap. Then again, the other family wouldn't have taken him in if he hadn't, so he guessed he shouldn't be so surprised.

'Yes, Uncle Vernon' he said in a slightly sarcastic tone. There was really no point in arguing, since he was already in the airport, though he was panicking. How would he hear the news if he was abroad? And how long would his letters take to reach his friends? He hoped his uncle's relatives were nicer than the Dursleys, though, based on Aunt Marge, he doubted it. At least they wouldn't know about his "freakishness" so they had less ground to mistreat him. And anyway, he had never been abroad, so he might as well make it the best experience possible. He was definitely very curious about what Madrid would be like. While he was aware that other countries existed, if had never felt real until he met the Beauxbaxtons and Durmstrang students. Even then, he hadn't asked them too much about what their countries were like, just their schools. It sounded interesting to learn about Spain, provided that his hosts didn't treat him like a house elf or kept him locked up. Then it would be just like Surrey, but less familiar, farther from his friends and in a foreign language. He would rather be at The Burrow, but it was Dumbledore, not the Dursleys, who had forbidden it, and it was impossible to argue any point with him (Not that he had tried very hard).

With these optimistic thoughts, he boarded the plane and found his seat. He listened nervously to the safety instructions, feeling like the first time he had flooed. They were too many to remember all at once. He buckled his seatbelt, took a candy the air hostess offered to him, and prepared for the flight. He was not ready for the plane to start going so fast, and gasped slightly. The passenger beside him, a middle aged, balding man, gave him a sympathetic look, probably figuring out that it was his first time flying. Then, the plane turned upwards and lifted off the ground. Well, it was better than a hippogriff in any case. Harry felt slightly chlaustrophobic, but the view of London by night was amazing. He watched it until it disappeared in the distance and closed his eyes, trying not to fall asleep. He didn't want to wake up screaming in front of complete strangers, or even think about the Dursleys' reaction if he did. Luckily, his dozing was interrupted by the hostess serving dinner, and Harry tucked in greedily. It wasn't the best food, but he had been in the train all day eating nothing but pumpkin pasties and cauldron cakes, so it felt filling. Not that he was picky. If he was at the Dursleys he would be getting nothing but soup and stale bread, so the plane choice was a great replacement. He ate slowly to pass the boredom, though still unable to believe he was on a plane. His evening had definitely gone different than he expected. He briefly wondered what Dumbledore would react like when, and if, he found out. Harry had never understood exactly why he needed to stay at least partly every summer at Privet Drive, but he was pretty sure the physical presence of him _and_ his relatives was important for it, neither of which was being complied to. Oh well…the worst that could happen was that the protection would fail if none of them were there, and Harry would have to stay someplace else the two following summers. Not a bad thing in his books. And it wouldn't even be his fault.

He started feeling anxious when the announcement that they were going to land shortly was made, but enjoyed the descent of the plane nonetheless. It was strange how the cars and streets looked like toys from above, and started getting bigger and bigger every minute. Finally, he felt the impact of the wheels with the ground, and the plane started to lose speed, finally stopping.

"Dear passengers, welcome to Madrid, this is Barajas airport. Local time is 10.03 pm, local temperature 21 degrees Celsius. Thank you for choosing Iberia, and we hope you enjoyed your flight" said the pilot's voice through the loudspeakers. Harry stood up quickly, though it was for naught, as people were taking their hand luggage and thus taking a lot of time to walk through the aisles. He finally made it out of the plane at the same time as the Dursleys, who gave him dirty looks, as though it was his fault that he had come with them. They made their way in silence, until transit passengers had to separate.

'Well boy, we separate here! Remember, no freaky events or you'll be sorry' said Vernon angrily, in low tones to avoid being heard. Harry nodded, annoyed, and followed the signs saying baggage claim/exit. He searched for his bag in the correct section, which wasn't too hard to find. Finally, he passed through another sensor, and again, customs. He presented his passport, got it stamped, and headed towards the sign called exit. He then realized that there were so many people, and he had no idea what his hosts looked like or their names, something Uncle Vernon had no doubt conveniently forgotten to tell him. How could he have been so stupid? Why hadn't he asked? Maybe it _was_ all a fake to leave him stranded in Spain. How would he explain this to the police? He had a suitcase full of magic things. He forced himself to calm down. He needed to get out of the airport first, in order to do anything. He kept walking, and found that many of the people had signs with people's names on them. He searched, just in case, and let an audible sigh of relief when he saw on the left side a big sign with the name Harry Potter. He walked towards it, and for the first time, noticed a blatant difference in Madrid that made him smile broadly. No one was pointing at the sign with his name, or staring at his scar.

**This chapter is just the introduction, so it is fairly slow and a bit boring, but necessary to explain the rest of the story. Anyway, I hope you like the idea and continue reading it! Pairings and minor things in the plot are undecided so you can vote, though I will warn you that I hate Harry/Hermione so I won't pair them up. I don't like Ron/Hermione that much either, but it's possible, though not probable.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for everyone who followed/favorited! I honestly didn't expect so many people to like the idea, but I'm glad you did because it motivates me to write more! I hope you like this chapter! The story will go a bit slow at the beginning, since Harry is experiencing new things, so he notices and describes everything, sort of like when he first came to Hogwarts.**

**Varietyduck: Thank you for the review, I really appreciate it! And of course I don't hate you because of your pairing preferences, I've never liked Ron/Hermione myself for that exact same reason. Personality wise, I'd always pictured Hermione with one of the twins. I think their types of intelligence complement each other really well, and they could learn from one another lots without ever getting bored. But I could also picture her with many random characters in the books or with a gentlemanly, smart OC. So as I said, it's open for opinion.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter or any places, characters or companies you recognize, and I'm not making any profit from this story.**

Chapter 2

The people holding the sign with his name were a couple in their mid-forties, or so Harry thought. The man was average height, with dark skin, eyes and hair, while the lady had light brown hair, fair skin and blue eyes. She was very short, as even Harry towered over her, which wasn't something that happened often to him. This made him feel oddly satisfied, silly as it was.

'Hello, you must be Harry' said the lady smiling once he stopped in front of them 'Vernon told us a lot about you in his letters. I'm Tía Ana and this is Tío Hernán'. Harry introduced himself politely, surprised at the warm greeting. Perhaps they weren't too bad after all, despite their poor luck in relatives. Or maybe it was a show for the rest of the people at the airport.

They guided him through the crowd until they reached the exit, and then across a parking lot before arriving at the car, a white Toyota. Tío Hernán helped him lift his suitcase into the trunk and promptly climbed behind the wheel. Tía Ana claimed the seat beside him, Harry got into the back seat and they were off.

'So Harry, how old are you?' asked Tía Ana while they were in the car. Harry was surprisingly taken aback at the question. He didn't remember the last time someone had asked him that, probably because every single person in the wizarding world knew his age, birthday, and other pointless details around him.

'Fourteen, but I turn fifteen in one month' he replied, smiling uncertainly.

'Excellent! Our daughter is thirteen. She will be in charge of teaching you Spanish' Tía Ana replied smiling kindly 'don't worry, she loves teaching and is very good at it, especially if you are motivated. Vernon told us you would like very much to learn'. Harry inwardly groaned, but nodded, pretending to be interested. If learning another language was going to make everyone in this house like him better it was a small price to pay.

Then followed more difficult questions from both adults. 'Is there any sport you like?' _Quidditch. _'I like running and basketball'. 'Which subjects at school do you like best?' _Defense, definitely. _'maths and english' _there, those sound like safe choices._ 'What do you like doing on your free time?' _Again, quidditch. If I had any free time with everything that happens at Hogwarts._ 'Running and spending time with my friends' _at least that one is true_. His hosts seemed a lot nicer than the Dursleys though, and a lot more interested in his life than them, not that it was a difficult feat to achieve. He noted Tío Hernán's English wasn't very good, which was probably why he was quieter. Tía Ana, on the contrary, had a very correct grammar and vocabulary, even if her accent was quite noticeable.

He was saved from the awkward interrogation about half an hour later, when they stopped in a small street and drove the car into their garage (Harry supposed) before entering the house, to a small hall with a staircase in front of him and many doors at both sides.

'We can show you around the house and tell you about the plans for this summer tomorrow, because it's very late' Tía Ana told him 'Do you want some dinner before you go to sleep?' Harry politely refused, as he had already eaten in the plane and it was indeed almost eleven pm. He was pretty sure his hosts had to work tomorrow morning.

'Ok then, this is your room' she said, turning left from the entrance, opening a door and turning on the light. It was slightly bigger than his room at Privet Drive, and the lack of bars and broken toys made it look a lot cozier. It had a double bed with a red duvet that had Chinese patterns on it, a small bedside table, and a TV in front. The wall behind the TV was totally covered by a bookcase and the wall at his left by a closet. The wall at his right, on the other side of the bed, was a window covered by dark curtains.

'You can use the closet if you want, but we will only be here for two weeks, so I don't recommend unpacking everything. The bathroom is right here, have a good night' Tía Ana told him gesturing to a door beside the entrance to his bedroom, before both adults went up the stairs. Harry wondered what she meant. Did that mean they would travel somewhere else? This was definitely proving to be an interesting start of the summer.

He noticed with a slight disappointment that all the books' titles were encyclopedias of different kinds, which made him wonder what kind of people his hosts were. He hadn't learnt anything about them during the trip, except random details about their four kids, which for Harry only meant he would have to get along and pretend to be normal with more people. It had all been about asking him questions, though to be fair, it was normal to want information from someone you would host for two months. Not that he had responded with anything true, as they now thought him a perfectly normal muggle who got along with his aunt and uncle.

He went to relieve himself and changed into his pajamas. The bathroom was quite big, more similar to the bathroom Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia used than the one Dudley and he did. Already yawning, he got under the covers and closed his eyes. He noticed the bed to be quite comfortable, and the pillows very soft, and lost consciousness within a few minutes. Nevertheless, as usual since the graveyard, he woke up in the middle of the night, his heart thumping, and screaming Cedric's name. After that, he had a fitful sleep.

The first official order meeting had started, and Dumbledore gazed around at the crowd gathered in Grimmauld Place. The missing half of the original order was very evident, he thought with a pang of pain, but at least there were some new faces. In particular, Kingsley Shacklebolt and the young Nymphadora Tonks would be very useful, with their status as aurors and skills to match.

'I need to talk to Mr. Ronald Weasley and Miss Granger before we start' Dumbledore told Molly lightly. The red headed woman frowned, but complied and went to fetch them from upstairs. Hermione had come immediately after packing summer clothes from her house. The Weasleys had explained the situation to her parents, and Bill had set up strong wards at the Granger home and dentistry practice against unrelated wizards. Hermione's parents were not at all happy to give up the summer time with their daughter, but they understood that their safety was more important.

'Hermione, Ron, the headmaster wants to talk to you' Molly told the two teenagers who were talking in Ron's room. They stood up, clearly confused, but followed her to the kitchen.

'Ah, good, you are both here' Dumbledore smiled at the two teenagers. 'I called you for a very specific reason, very important to our safety' he said seriously ' letters can be intercepted, so be very careful regarding what you put in writing. _Especially_ if you contact Mr. Potter. There is a good chance that the ministry or the death eaters might be intercepting his mail, so please don't write anything about where you are or what we are doing, or we might have serious problems. Is that clear?' Ron and Hermione complied, both looking torn. It would be difficult not to write anything useful, but it _was_ very important for the order's safety.

'Good. That goes for you too Sirius' Dumbledore stated looking at the man sitting at the kitchen table talking with Lupin and Nymphadora. 'Now we are going to start the meeting, so you youngsters should go upstairs'. The two teenagers left the kitchen, Ron muttering complaints about being left out under his breath. The headmaster warded and silenced the kitchen and proceeded to inform the rest of the order of his plans. It was decided that Hagrid would try to recruit the giants to their cause, while Lupin would be in charge of talking to the werewolf clans and Severus would of course be the spy. The other members would take shifts guarding the prophecy and Harry, and when they weren't on one, would keep tabs on known death eaters. They drew a schedule of both things and shared information about people they could potentially recruit and wizards they should follow leads on. All the members stayed until very late working, but it was a highly productive meeting. As they would conclude later, it was the most useful one they would have for a long time.

Harry woke up early, covered in sweat from the night before, and decided to have a shower. He felt quite hungry, and wondered at what time people had breakfast in this house, groaning. Any other summer, he would have been extremely happy to be away from the Dursleys for two months, but now it was different. Now Voldemort had come back, and he wanted to be aware of what was happening in the wizarding world. He was desperate for news. Who was he attacking? What was the ministry doing to stop him? His relatives hated magic, but at least they knew about it. With them, he wouldn't have to hide the owls from his friends and make up excuses every time they wrote. At Hogwarts he had contemplated on getting a subscription for the Daily Prophet so he could be informed, but now it would prove impossible. For one, Harry had no idea if the subscriptions worked when you were outside the country. And secondly, how would he explain the owls with a newspaper that moved and used words like wizards and magic? He knew he could get away with having Hedwig as a pet, as long as he hid the fact that she brought him letters. But a different owl at day light, every day for two months? These people were muggles, but surely not stupid. They would know something was off, and if the Dursleys found out they would skin him alive. Plus it would probably count as breaking the Statute of Secrecy, which could get him in trouble with the wizarding authorities, Spanish or British. That was definitely not something he was willing to experience. No, he would have to count on his friends' and Sirius' letters for information, but even that would take a lot longer than usual! It would surely take a long time for Hedwig to fly to the UK, even if she was a magical owl. Why couldn't the Dursleys have decided to go on holiday a different summer? Perhaps before his third year, instead of inviting Aunt Marge…

'_There's no point in dwelling on it'_ Harry told himself firmly '_what's done is done'. _He would have to make the most of it. At least he had the opportunity to be abroad, something which he never thought would have been possible. He promptly chose some summer clothes and got into the shower, reveling in the feeling of being clean again. Then, he quickly dressed and, seeing Tía Ana at the foot of the stairs, walked over to her. He would have to find out what his hosts' schedule was, so he wouldn't be late to meals and appear rude.

'Ah good, you're awake' Tía Ana smiled at him 'I'll show you the kitchen so you can have breakfast and then I'll show you around the house and tell you a bit of what we will do during the summer'. Harry nodded eagerly; glad that breakfast was the first thing on the schedule. If he had come from the Dursleys he wouldn't have minded waiting, but his stomach was still used to Hogwarts meals. On the kitchen there was another lady cooking, even a bit shorter than Tía Ana if that was possible, with black hair, pale skin and brown eyes.

'This is Señora Inés, she's the housekeeper. She doesn't speak English, so you will have to try Spanish with her' Tía Ana said, then turning to the lady 'Señora Inés, este es Harry, el chico ingles que estará dos semanas acá' _(…this is Harry, the English boy that will stay here for two weeks)._ Harry cursed silently, as he didn't know one word in the language. How was he supposed to talk to her? He hoped she didn't think he was rude.

'Hello' Sra. Inés said tentatively. Harry replied in English, relieved that she knew the basic word. He would have to learn at least _that_ today. He wondered if it was normal to have a housekeeper in Spain, but wasn't about to ask. Instead he followed Tía Ana as she showed him where the bowls, glasses and cutlery were, and then walked with her to the other side of the kitchen, where there was a table, chairs and a big fridge.

'You can help yourself to whatever you prefer' said Tía Ana opening the fridgeand showing him each place 'Here there's milk and yogurt, and ham and cheese. All the cereal is on the table, and there' she pointed to a counter 'is the bread, butter, jam and honey'. Apparently whatever he preferred didn't include toast with bacon, eggs and tea, but Harry wasn't about to complain. He would take a different breakfast over the mean looks of the Dursleys any day.

'Thank you' he said politely, and tentatively took the bottle of chocolate milk. He had never tasted it before, but he had seen Aunt Petunia give glasses to Dudley when they were younger, so it should be fairly good. He took a plate and made himself a ham and cheese sandwich quietly, and ate while Tía Ana and Sra. Inés talked about something in fast Spanish.

'So, our plans for the summer are staying here two weeks, and then the following two weeks we will go to our beach house in Barcelona' said Tía Ana to Harry's astonishment. 'Then the next month we would like to travel around Spain. During these two weeks we are working, but on weekends we can go to towns near Madrid for the day so you can visit more places. We instructed our daughter to show you around during the day though and to make sure you don't get bored'.

'_Wow'_ Harry thought stunned. They sure were committed to him having a good time here. Certainly different than the Dursleys, but he didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing in this case. He would rather be alone than hang out all day with a random thirteen year old that would think he was a muggle and spend time learning Spanish. He would have to pretend and be careful with everything he said. Hopefully she wouldn't speak English too well and wouldn't pick up on it when he slipped up. He managed a polite 'thank you' to Tía Ana and she showed him the living room, the dining room, and a room that was a strange hybrid between a bar and a cinema on the first floor.

'Upstairs there are just our rooms and bathrooms, so it's not very interesting…but if you need anything you can go upstairs and ask' she said. He would probably never go, but he nodded politely anyway. She opened a door/window in the living room and they stepped into a nice terrace with a table, chairs, a grill and _a pool._ He had never heard of a house with a pool before, not that he had seen many houses in his life.

'It's more common in Spain than in England' Tía Ana supplied, interpreting his look correctly. Harry blushed, hoping he hadn't seemed too rude by staring 'you can swim whenever you wish' she continued. Harry mentally groaned. He didn't even have clothes that weren't Dudley's castoffs, and had never even thought of owning a bathing suit.

'Oh, there's Antonia!' Tía Ana said happily, gesturing to the living room. Harry turned from the pool to see the girl coming towards them. She was slim, with tanned skin and very blue eyes. Her straight dark brown hair went down to her waist and fanned out behind her as she walked. He thought she was quite good looking. Before he knew it she was standing in front of him. She was also shorter than him, which he hadn't noticed before. 'Antonia, this is Harry' Tía Ana told her.

'Nice to meet you Harry' she grinned at him in a friendly way. She wore braces, which he thought slightly killed her look. 'My name's Antonia, but you can call me Anto'. Her English was perfect, her accent American instead of Spanish. Not that she had said much, but if the first impression was to go by, he would have to really watch what he said.

'Nice to meet you too' he replied slightly nervously, holding his hand out for her to shake. He would have to get along with the girl if she would hang around with him for two months, and it didn't help his nerves that she was pretty. Antonia looked at the hand strangely.

'We don't greet like that in Spain' she told him grinning 'you have to kiss me on both cheeks, like this'. Before Harry knew what she was doing, she put her hand on his shoulder and pressed her right cheek against his left one and made a kissing noise, before repeating the action with the other cheek. Harry felt his neck grow hot, and his stomach flipped, not unlike when he had met Cho. He stared at her, motionless, and could feel himself blushing brightly. She looked at him and laughed, though not in a mean way.

'I'm sorry to just spring that on you, but it is how you should greet every woman here, so you should get used to it. I thought I better do it before my grandmother of someone comes and you get scarred for life' she explained, still laughing. Harry grimaced at the mental image of him kissing a lady the age of Professor McGonagall on both cheeks. He thought it made sense to warn him, but she could have done it in a different way without embarrassing him, he thought a bit annoyed. Apparently this girl didn't believe in general politeness. He forced himself to calm down. Maybe he was judging her too quickly. They had barely spoken two sentences after all.

'Yeah, sorry, I'm not used to people being so close' he replied, relieved at feeling his face turn back to normal. A more accurate description would be he'd never been as close to a girl before. Unless he counted the hugs of Mrs. Weasley and Hermione, which he felt like family about, so it was quite different.

'Don't worry, you'll get used to it here!' she said smiling mischievously. She smiled very often. He wondered briefly what she meant, but decided quickly that if people kissed on the cheek to say hi, then they were probably generally more affective than the British. 'So, are you ready to learn some Spanish?' she asked kindly 'I can teach you for a couple of hours and then we can go swimming or whatever you want'. Harry inwardly groaned, remembering his alibi, but decided to try to learn. It couldn't hurt to be able to communicate in this country, and he had to do it anyway. Plus, if the hyperactive thirteen year old girl beside him could learn a second language so well, then so could he.

**I hoped you liked this chapter! I'm going to visit Madrid in two days for the first time, so after that I will be able to write more about what it is like for Harry there!**

**I'm not sure if I'm getting Harry's personality correctly, but if you think I'm not be sure to tell me, constructive criticism is welcome! And remember to tell me what pairings you would like. I'll probably make it Harry/Antonia at some point, but I think it will be only during that summer because the point is to help him grow as a person, not to find his true love at fourteen. So I have nothing set yet on what will happen when he goes back to school. I usually really like Harry/Ginny, because I think canon Harry really needs someone like her to be happy ... but this Harry will be different from canon Harry when he returns for his fifth year, so maybe he will need someone different. Tell me what you think!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here goes the next chapter! It's only about the first day for Harry, but after this one it will go more quickly! It is just to show how a different environment to being stuck at the Dursleys would have done wonders for him! And to introduce more about Antonia and how he starts trusting her and appreciating the normal things. Anyway, I hope you like it! Thank you for everyone who favorites/followed!**

**Autumngold: Thank you for the review, I'm really glad you like the story and I hope it keeps evolving like that and making Harry a more mature person!**

**Hont91: I completely get what you mean, I felt the same way when I was reading OOTP! That's what I've been trying to copy, the original attitude, though maybe I exaggerated it a little ... but it will change with time, don't worry!**

**PuppyProngs: My original idea was for the order to realize it when they finally wanted to collect Harry (which would be farely late since there would be no underage magic done as Harry is not there during the dementor attack and neither is Dudley) and bring him to headquarters,but then I remembered the guard shifts! So sadly, I will have to make them find out fairly early, probably at the next order meeting! Yes, Harry will find out about the Spanish wizarding world very soon! His other findings will be later as a consequence of his new found maturity and common sense.**

**I apologize for grammar or spelling mistakes, since as you can guess, Spanish is my first language, not English (I'm from Chile, not Spain, but it was a bit of a stretch to send Harry so far away).  
**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter, and any characters, places and companies you recognize. I'm not making profit from this story. I'm getting tired of writing this in every chapter.**

Chapter 3

'I think that's it for today' said Antonia one hour later. To Harry's surprise, he had enjoyed learning. It kept his mind occupied from unwelcome thoughts, and it would definitely be useful. The girl had taught him all the basic sentences, and how to introduce himself, so he would definitely be able to be polite to Señora Inés now. Nevertheless, Spanish was hard, especially the pronunciation, so he was glad to do something else for now.

'Sure' he replied 'when do you want us to practice next?'

'How about one hour each day? It is vacation after all … this time would be fine' Antonia replied brightly. Harry nodded thoughtfully, surprised at finding out that the idea didn't bother him. He had never thought about studying a language before, but the lesson had been interesting.

'Ok then, let's go swim! There's an hour until lunch time and then we can go out in the afternoon if you want'. Harry groaned to himself. The day was stifling hot, and the pool looked very attractive at this moment, if not for the fact that he didn't have anything to wear.

'Um, I don't really own a bathing suit' he said embarrassed 'in England it rains very often and my relatives don't have a pool'.

'No matter, you're really skinny so I bet one of Luciano's will fit you…I think he got one for his birthday that was too big for him anyway!' she replied after giving him a strange look. Harry let her lead him into a basket with various swimming suits and towels, vaguely remembering that Luciano was her eleven-year -old brother from his conversation with Tía Ana and Tío Hernán. Before he could wonder if he should take the fact that Anto thought the kid's swimsuit would fit him as an insult, she gave him a pair of black and green shorts and a towel and pointed him to the bathroom. The shorts fit him, if a little snugly, so he decided to take the comment as a simple observation.

Antonia was already in the water when he came in, swimming happily. Harry cautiously approached the pool and put his feet in. It was a lot warmer than the lake at Hogwarts in the second task, that was for sure. He relaxed and dived, reveling in the cool sensation on his skin after the heat. He crossed to the other edge in four strokes and stopped, grinning for the first time since entering the maze.

'So you don't swim often then? If you don't have a bathing suit' Anto asked, startling Harry. The question was phrased a tad impertinently in his opinion, but her expression wasn't mocking, so he figured she was just curious.

'I've only swum once before in the last few years actually' Harry answered truthfully, remembering the disastrous rescue of the hostages 'we have a lake at our school but we never really swim in it. What about you? Do you swim a lot?' Even if not very polite, she seemed nice, so he might as well get to know her. After all, she was the only person his age in the house and he would be with them for two months.

'Yeah, as soon as it gets warm we swim almost every day!' she exclaimed excitedly 'in the pool here and in the beach in Barcelona. We usually go there for a month during August but this year we will travel instead' Harry smiled wistfully at the thought. He had never been to a beach, or travelled anywhere, and told her so. She was dismayed, which made him think that maybe he was being too obvious about his situation with the Dursleys.

'So what do you do during the summers?' she asked curiously.

'I usually spend half with my relatives at home and half at my best friends' house. He lives in the countryside and has a big family, so there's a lot to do. We usually play games and sports all summer' he replied grinning at the thought of the Burrow 'except last year; we went camping and saw a big football tournament'.

'Oh that sounds fun too' Antonia said smiling 'camping is great; we've also done it a few times'. They talked for the rest of the hour comfortably, about trivial things. Harry was surprised at how easy it was to talk to her, and how entertained he was. Provided he omitted the magical comments, of course.

'Antonia, Harry, ¡vengan a comer!' _(…, come eat!)_Señora Inés told them coming to the terrace. Anto got out of the pool, and Harry suppressed a gasp of surprise. He had been so concentrated talking that he hadn't noticed the red and blue bikini she was wearing, but she looked _very _good in it. Her bosom was still small, but her flat stomach, tiny waist and round, attractive bottom made up for that. Her legs were long and shapely, making her look taller, and Harry understood why he initially hadn't noticed she was shorter than him. He had never seen a girl wearing so little before, and it did strange things to his thoughts. He didn't remember what Cho, Hermione and Fleur had been wearing during the second task; he had been too stressed to think about it.

'You coming?' Anto looked back at him. Harry quickly stopped staring, hoping she hadn't noticed, and got out of the pool. He dried himself and threw his t-shirt on while Antonia slipped into a sundress and they both went inside. Tía Ana was sitting at the dining room table with two identical girls that Harry knew were eight years old. They had a lot of similar features to Antonia and the same tanned skin colour, but black hair and brown eyes.

'Harry, these are Marta and Laura' the lady told him gesturing to the twins in turn 'girls, this is Harry'.

'Nice to meet you' said Laura grinning, while Marta nodded. Harry returned the greeting, feeling embarrassed. Until today, he hadn't known how to say that in Spanish, but an eight year old knew it in his language. He resolved to study hard during the next two months.

'Mom, Harry and I want to go to Parque del Retiro after lunch' Antonia announced. Harry nodded, as she had told him about the big park during the last hour, and he had thought it seemed interesting.

'Ok, do you want me to drop you off at the metro?' Tía Ana asked them while handing Antonia some money.

'Nah, we will take the bikes' she replied brightly 'Harry can use Luciano's. He's a good biker, so he uses a bigger wheel size, don't worry' she reassured him. Harry had no idea what the wheel size meant, but he was more concerned with the fact that he had never ridden a bike before. How was he going to explain this?

'Actually I prefer to go walking if you don't mind, my leg had been hurting for a while' he invented wildly, but with a convincing face.

'Sure, we can take the metro then' Antonia smiled.

'So where's Luciano?' Harry asked hoping to change the subject. He did not feel comfortable using things that belonged to someone he hadn't yet met.

'You will not meet him this summer, he's spending it in Canada doing the same thing as you' Tía Ana replied proudly. Harry felt confused; he wasn't doing anything special as far as he knew.

'What do you mean the same that I am doing?' he asked nonplussed.

'Spending a summer abroad to learn a language' Tía Ana explained patiently, as if he was supposed to know this 'Antonia also went to Canada three years ago and spent a summer with distant relatives learning English. The past two summers her Canadian cousins came here to learn Spanish, and now it was Luciano's turn to go'. Harry thought now it made sense that Antonia spoke so well English, and why Vernon's excuse to leave him there had not seemed too strange for these people. He wondered if he would be able to speak Spanish like she did English after two months. He doubted it.

'Well, it worked very well' he complimented her 'your English is excellent'. She blushed slightly, and the action made him feel slightly warm.

'Thanks! My parents wanted me to go to England with your family, but they said they don't have enough space at their home, so I went to Canada instead' she told him. Harry quickly confirmed the lie. He couldn't imagine the Dursleys pretending they liked him for a whole summer in order to seem like a normal family.

'It would have been great if you had come though' he said thoughtfully. Then maybe he wouldn't have needed to be rescued by the Weasleys. Or maybe he would have been locked up pretending he didn't exist for two months instead of three days.

Nymphadora Tonks prepared to leave her shift, extremely bored. The Dursleys had left earlier than her arrival, so she had been idly sitting beside their back yard under an invisibility cloak. Harry had either gone with them or stayed in his room, so nothing interesting at all had happened. Oh well. She'd rather have nothing to report than some disaster.

She waited impatiently for Mundungus to arrive, so she could start tagging a new lead at the ministry. He was already fifteen minutes late! No respect whatsoever. Finally, she saw him heading her way, surprisingly cleverly disguised as a muggle. They turned the corner to ensure they were unseen by the neighbors and she passed the cloak onto him.

'Finally, I was waiting for ages!' she huffed. Before he could argue she disapparated to the ministry. Why did she have to waste all morning keeping guard over a kid? Even if it was harry Potter, what was the worst he could do? He was under wards and he wasn't an idiot. In her opinion, they should have just told him what he needed to do and not do and why, so he could avoid getting in trouble. But obviously, when she had raised this point, most people had ignored her after Dumbledore countered the idea. Oh well. Maybe they would see sense to it next Thursday when no one had anything interesting to report on him. She didn't know how wrong she was. But of course, she didn't know everyone taking shifts on Harry this week would experience the same inactivity as her.

Harry looked around in wonder. When Antonia had said they would be going to a park, he had assumed that it would be bigger than the one in Little Whinging, but he had not imagined this. He thought it looked more like a forest. The girl led him obliviously through a street (yes, the park had streets!) up to a small plaza with a fountain. Many teenagers were skating around it, performing tricks he had never seen. Harry watched stunned as two skaters played a game of Frisbee, sometimes jumping or bending in the skates to catch it, and even hitting it with their knees like a football. There were also teens skating around what looked like an obstacle course, incredibly coordinated, almost like a dance.

'I have no idea how to do that stuff, I haven't skated in ages' commented Antonia. Harry agreed. Catching a snitch was definitely easier than this. After a while, they walked through more trees and rivers, arriving at a pond with a palace made of glass. Anto showed him the inside, which was full of rocking chairs with books attached. Apparently, you could just come here and read whenever you wanted. Harry thought it was a nice concept to relax. He believed Hermione would be in heaven here, but he didn't know if she ever read novels or just academic books. He commented this to the girl beside him and she laughed and asked him for more details about his friends. He told her some (heavily edited) stories about the visits to Hogsmeade and Hagrid's and they ended up both laughing hard while walking. Harry hadn't felt this relaxed in what seemed like ages. He wondered if it was because nothing in Madrid reminded him of his troubles at school, or because he was aware that he would have a totally Dursley-free summer with people he was actually starting to like. Or maybe because here he was anonymous, and no one expected anything of him or even knew he was the boy who lived.

They walked slowly and arrived at a lake in the middle of the park. It was full of people having picnics, and also eating at a couple of cafés at the edge. Inside the lake were many people in boats rowing around, and at the other side he could distinguish a big monument. The sight was very lively, and Harry tried to drink it all at once amazed, just like he had with Diagon Alley.

'Do you want to get an ice-cream?' Antonia asked grinning. Harry hesitated. He didn't have any muggle Money, and she had already paid for the tickets in the tube.

'My mom gave the money to both of us you know…your uncle and her agreed on a sum that he gave her for your expenses during these two months'. Harry didn't know what to be more surprised at. That a girl he barely knew could guess his exact thoughts, or that Uncle Vernon had given someone money for him. But he supposed it was obvious that hosting a person for two months brought extra costs.

'Sure then' he grinned back at her and they raced to the ice-cream parlour. He got a big vanilla and hazelnut sundae. Antonia got mint with something called "dulce de Leche" which was very good. They shared the ice-cream talking animatedly while they examined the many statues in the monument.

'Do you want to rent a boat?' Anto asked enthusiastically. He noticed she got excited very easily about everything, almost like a little kid. It was refreshing.

'I don't know how to row' he replied uncertainly. He didn't want to make a fool of himself in front of all these people.

'I don't either, but who cares? No one will be looking at us and if they do you'll never see any of them again!' she replied grinning. Harry thought she had a point, but it was strange. He had never had the luxury of not attracting people's attention before, either for being the vandal freaky nephew of the Dursleys or the boy who lived.

'You're right, let's go!' he said a little more enthusiastically this time 'It's weird to not feel watched' he commented. Obviously, she had no idea what he meant.

'Why, are you famous or something?' she joked 'come on, the rental is this way'.

'Extremely famous' he drawled in a haughty voice, chuckling at the irony. Anto laughed too, thinking his joke rather funny. They rented the boat easily, and in five minutes they were on the shore. The seller explained to them the basics of how to row and left them on their own. It wasn't as hard as it looked, and they enthusiastically made it to the middle of the lake. Harry enjoyed himself immensely, especially when they started a water fight from the boat, which rocked dangerously and almost turned over.

'In my school we have a tradition that you have to reach it by boat in your first year' Harry told Antonia 'it's located in a big castle, so when you see it for the first time from the lake it looks amazing'.

'It's a castle and it has a lake? You school is weird' she commented laughing 'but it sounds cool, I wish mine was like that'.

'It's a British thing' Harry replied thinking quickly.

'I'm glad you like to make your country seem cool, but that's the biggest lie ever. My school is British and it's just plain boring' she replied chuckling. Harry was surprised at the statement, but supposed it made sense then that even Marta and Laura knew some English. There went his hope to speak perfect Spanish in two months.

'Yeah, I guess my school is weird then' he replied. She stuck her tongue out at him and splashed him again. He splashed her back, laughing freely. It felt strange to be a normal teenager, but it was a welcome change.

**I hope you liked it! In the next ones more interesting things will start to happen and I'll cover more days at a time. Remember to tell me your thoughts and ideas onwhat you think should happen! I'm sorry about not updating soon, but I can't promise how often I will do it because I'm a very slow writer!**


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